


Green and Growing

by minkhollow



Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: Gen, picture prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-15
Updated: 2011-07-15
Packaged: 2017-10-21 10:06:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/223994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minkhollow/pseuds/minkhollow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The ivy is coming from inside the house.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Green and Growing

**Author's Note:**

> Another from the picture-prompt meme. This is just a random S3-ish side quest.  
> I am still not Syfy.

When they pull up in front of the house, Claudia gapes. “Holy Sleeping Beauty, Batman.”

“Wasn’t exactly how I was going to put it, but that works,” Steve says. “At least it doesn’t look particularly thorny.”

“No, but--” Claudia flips through the file Artie shoved at her before shooing them out the door and off to Billings. “According to the police report, the neighbors didn’t see anything like this last night, and get this - all that broke through the windows from the inside.”

“What, did someone plant giant bean stalk seeds in their kitchen or something?”

“Never rule anything out, young grasshopper.”

Steve helps himself to a deep breath. “You know you’re technically the young grasshopper in this equation, right?”

“Maybe, but you’re still the noob. Come on, let’s see what we can see with the kudzu invasion from hell here.”

It’s not kudzu, as it turns out, but Steve had half expected that; it’s a little cold this far north for kudzu to have that kind of staying power. They call Artie about it, and after a while he buzzes back and informs them it’s native to England (and hangs up before they can get much more out of him, of course).

“The ivy is coming from inside the house,” Claudia deadpans. “English ivy to boot. Did it decide to drop in for a spot of tea?”

Steve smiles a little. “I don’t know whether anyone brought it over as a well-intentioned invasive species, but either way, this kind of growth is ridiculous.”

“No kidding. I wonder... hang on a minute.” Claudia hands Steve the file, sets the neutralizer canister on the front walk, and starts rummaging in her tool belt; a few minutes later, she’s filled a spray bottle with the goo.

“You sure that’s going to work?”

“Less so than the Tesla grenade, but... well, if the plant sprang up overnight, then maybe it’s part of the Artifact. Can’t hurt to try.” She pulls the trigger on the spray bottle, and sure enough, once the goo’s worked its way through the pump, the ivy sparks and disappears where the neutralizer hit it.

Claudia grins. “Sweet. Here, I have another bottle, you start working in and I’ll catch up.”

It’s slow going, but eventually they beat a path through the front door; they follow the ivy up the stairs and into a bedroom. Through some miracle, the young woman on the bed hasn’t been completely smothered by the ivy, which is coming from--

“A book? Really?” Steve shakes his head. “Maybe you were on to something with ‘Library of Crazy.’”

“Either way, we gotta goo the hell out of this thing. Threetwoonego!” Claudia starts spraying the book, and Steve joins in; they don’t stop until the book’s a purple mess and the ivy’s nowhere to be seen.

Claudia picks up the book with two fingers - even with a pair of gloves on - and eyes the spine before dunking it in the canister. “The Secret Garden. Go figure.”

“Oddly fitting. I’ll call Artie, you figure out what to tell her when she wakes up?” It’s a division of labor that gets Steve out of having to make up the cover story; given that he can see right through everyone else’s, it’s never been his strong point.

“You got it, Jinkies.” She hands him the canister, and adds, “You know, you’re getting the hang of this really fast.”

Steve grins. “Thanks.”


End file.
